Author Notes: Sweet, salty, tart, crunchy and spicy, this salad has perfect flavor and texture balance. The inspiration was pomegranate molasses, which I learned about when I worked on a Persian food class. I like how the molasses takes the acidic edge off the vinaigrette but it is still tangy and delicious.

Food52 Review: Although this salad has lots of different ingredients, it's somehow not overly busy or complicated. We love how the fragrance and sweetness of the pomegranate molasses mollify the tartness of the sherry vinegar in the dressing, and how the shallots lightly pickle in the vinaigrette as you make the rest of the salad. Mellow pears, salty goat cheese, crunchy pomegranate seeds and toasted pistachios ensure that every bite contains a great mix of flavors and textures. Brigidc has carefully mapped out every step, and the result is a balanced autumn salad that can stand alone or work as part of a meal. - A&M —The Editors

Serves 6

Vinaigrette

1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced

1tablespoon pomegranate molasses

2tablespoons sherry or apple cider vinegar

1/2teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepepr

1/3cup extra virgin olive oil

For the salad

4cups arugula, lightly packed

4 cups romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces

2 ripe pears, cored and cut into 1/2" cubes

1/3cup pomegranate seeds

3ounces fresh goat cheese or feta, crumbled

1/4 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped

In a small bowl combine the shallot, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk until the salt is dissolved.

Whisk in the olive oil and let vinaigrette stand at room temperature until salad is assembled.

Combine the arugula, romaine, pears and half of the pomegranate seeds in a large bowl.

Crumble half of the goat cheese over the ingredients in the bowl (this works best if the cheese is very cold).

Whisk the vinaigrette until uniform and add all but 2 tablespoons of it to the bowl.

Gently toss the salad with your hands or salad tongs, coating the ingredients well with the vinaigrette. If the salad seems dry, add the vinaigrette in small increments until it is dressed to your liking.

Crumble the remaining cheese over the salad and sprinkle the remaining pomegranate seeds and the pistachios over the top. Serve immediately.

Nice combination of sweet, crunchy and tart, with a little zip from the arugula. Made a big double-batch of this salad yesterday for a wine tasting and an Oscar party, and it was a hit at both (I kept most of the elements separate until I dressed it and served it).

I substituted tart cherry juice, reduced on the stove with a pinch of sugar and lemon, for the pomegranate molasses. It takes an age -- I think mine took two hours -- but it was easy and tasted great (and since I already had it, it saved me an extra $10 purchase).

This was a HUGE hit last night at our annual Cookie Swap….The colors for Christmas were perfect and the flavor !!! Just perfect…I are my own pomegranate molasses from a reductions of juice with sugar and lemon…I will make again and again !!

Delicious! Also comes together quickly if you're using store-bought or pre-made molasses. Like others I made the pomegranate molasses from scratch (a reduction of pomegranate juice, sugar and fresh lemon juice-googled a recipe for it). Used crumbled aged cheddar in place of feta or goat cheese. I'll be making this often, thanks!

I made this salad for Christmas and even though I couldn't find Pomegranate Molasses and was up last minute making it at 3am the night before ( it's actually pretty simple just a juice and sugar reduction just takes time like any reduction) The flavor was totally worth. I killed myself cooking but all anybody could talk about the next day was this salad. even if you never use salad recipes, made this. you'll be dying to make it again.

This is AWESOME! Made it for the first time for Christmas dinner and it was a huge success and so pretty with all the different colors. It's not a staple in my house. I made the dressing from scratch (googled a recipe for homemade molasses) but now I've found a decent pomegranate pre-made vinegrette at the grocery that I like as well so we eat it even more often!

I had a wonderful salad the other night at Nieto's restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago, made with citrus, arugula, hazelnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette, which I don't like. Another salad had a pomegranate molasses vinaigrette I thought would work and they kindly substituted it for me. Tonight I made a salad of red-tinged Boston lettuce and thin slices of black plums, toasted hazelnuts and this version of pomegranate molasses vinaigrette. Oh, so yumm. It's going into regular rotation here - thank you so much for sharing it. And come the fall, we will do the pear salad as written.

I know that this is a contest winner and that pretty much every comment raves about it, but my boyfriend and I did not like it at all. We tried the pom molasses before making the dressing and were already not excited about the taste, but we pressed on because of the rave reviews. If you don't like pomegranate molasses you will not like this recipe. It tasted too syrupy sweet, almost like cough syrup. Maybe it was just a bad molasses that we used, because the whole thing sounds great. Sorry to be the one negative review in the bunch.

Gosh, I am at a loss. Where do you find pomegranate seeds. Do I need to buy a fresh pomegranate or can you buy a jar of the seeds? I have never used one before and so not sure what to do. If I need a fresh one for the seeds, then what do I do with the rest of the fruit? Thanks for your help.

pomegranates are probably out of season by now--they usually start around November and you'll see them in stores until around the end of January. Some places sell the seeds in the refrigerated section of the produce dept.--like where you find all the cut-up fruit--in little clear plastic clamshell containers. I live in Idaho, and I've never seen the seeds-only product in my grocery store, but a whole pomegranate is a wonderful thing! Kind of messy, but once you break it open and take the seeds out, you'll find lots of uses for them, especially just eating as a pick-me-up snack.

A friend of mine made this recently, and I was so impressed! The dressing itself is fabulous. He omitted the pistachios, but I think it could be just as wonderful with toasted hazelnuts or walnuts -- definitely adding this to my go-to list for salads.

I made this salad last night for a dinner party and it was FANTASTIC!!! I love, love, love the dressing. And I totally agree with other commenters that it is a beautiful looking salad. My pears weren't ripe, so I substituted 1 green apple, and I only used arugula. Thank you so much for a great recipe!

This salad is beautiful and delicious! I followed the course of other commenters when I couldn't find pomegranate molasses and just reduced pomegranate juice. I'm definitely adding this recipe to my quiver for when I'm asked to bring the salad to a party.

I made this for Valentine's...it is a beautiful salad, wonderful mix of flavours and color. I served it with the Salmon in papillotte and red peppercorns and the Snakebite cake, both from this site. Thank you Brigide and Food52 for a great meal!

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Tried reducing 4 tbsp to 1 like foodiebiztraveler suggested and probably let it go too long (got 1/2 a tbsp). Added some more unreduced juice and the salad was really delicious. Perfect mix of bright fruit flavors and savory dressing.

Delicious salad! I bought what looked like an old pomegranate thinking I might be disappointed but it was perfectly ripe and the seeds tender. I used a mix of super greens and romaine and it was so good I made it again a couple of days later!

Served this as a much needed greenery on the Thanksgiving table. It was a huge hit. Couldn't locate pomegranate molasses, reduced down regular pomegranate juice--tangy and delicious! I've made the dressing on multiple occasions since they shallots basically pickle in the pom. reduction, and who doesn't love a pickled onion in any form?

Anyone have a time-saving tip for the roasted, chopped pistachios? I de-shelled them, chopped them and then roasted in a dry sauté pan...a LOT of work for a garnish, albeit tasty. Can one BUY chopped, roasted pistachios? Do they NEED to be roasted?

This salad IS delicious - probably the best I've ever made - but SO MUCH WORK!

I bought a bottle of POM 100% pomegranate juice. I measured about 4 Tbsp. of the juice from the bottle and reduced in a saucepan to 1 Tbsp. of "pomegranate reduction"/molasses and used that in the dressing. Delicious!

I made this salad a couple weeks ago as part of my mom's birthday dinner. She has digestive issues and doesn't like salad dressings that are too acidic. I'm happy to say she (and everyone else at her dinner) loved this salad.

Ditto!! Loved that Alton Brown had such a foolproof pomegranate molasses recipe to go along with this deliciousness. My family was so happy to have such a refreshing salad to go along with our Thanksgiving meal.

Delicious!! It was a huge hit at a dinner party I hosted a couple nights ago, served along side thick, bone-in pork chops and these Crispy Cream-braised Potatoes and Fennel http://www.food52.com/recipes... YUM!!

I love it! Hate harvesting the pom seeds, but they're always worth it. I break the pomegranate apart into a bowl of water and the pith float to the top. Makes life that much easier! Thanks and congrats!

I made this last night for our pre-Thanksgiving dinner. It was a HUGE hit! Congratulations on a well-deserved dish! (PS - thanks to those who responded about Pomegranate Molasses...I found a recipe to make it by hand!)

This looks delicious. Thanks for sharing! I'd love to make this for Thanksgiving, but where would I find pomegranate molasses? If I can't find it, does anyone have a suggestion for a comparable substitute?